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The House passed a bipartisan measure 269-161 to trim federal deficits and raise the debt ceiling on Monday evening, with Democratic and Republican leaders sewing together a loose, centrist coalition to overcome the objections of the wings of each party and advance the bill to the Senate just one day before the Treasury Department would have to take [...]
Right now, as I write this, CNN is interviewing Donald Trump about the debt ceiling deal. This is the same dude who pulled everyone’s chain last spring, “running” for President to boost his reality-show’s rating, by saying some of the most outlandish stuff imaginable about the President. And CNN is consulting him as someone who [...]
Of the few clear truths in Washington’s nearly resolved debt debate, there is this: House Republican freshmen made good on their promise to vigorously push President Obama, and Democrats, toward fiscal austerity. They were elected to Congress last November with the help of some $34 million in campaign advertising from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, [...]
In the final debt limit compromise, Republicans and Democrats agreed to swap out the hostages. Gone is the threat of defaulting on U.S. bonds by refusing to raise the debt ceiling. In its place: Medicare providers and defense contractors. If Democrats and Republicans do not agree to another $1.5 trillion in cuts later this year, [...]
As the broad strokes of the debt ceiling deal began to leak out over the weekend, progressive groups filled reporters’ inboxes with outraged e-mails. “Seeing a Democratic President take taxing the rich off the table and instead push a deal that will lead to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefit cuts is like entering a [...]
Mitt Romney demonstrates, yet again, why he lacks the character for higher office: “As President, my plan would have produced a budget that was cut, capped and balanced – not one that opens the door to higher taxes and puts defense cuts on the table. President Obama’s leadership failure has pushed the economy to the [...]
I agree with most of what Paul Krugman has to say about the debt deal–with one crucial exception. He’s right that Obama should have included raising the debt ceiling in last December’s tax deal…but he’s wrong, I think, about the President using what we’ll call “constitutional means”–the 14th Amendment–to blow past this silly, disastrous fight. [...]
Exit polls from last November’s midterms left little ambiguity about the issue that motivated most voters: 63% listed “the economy” as the most important issue. When asked the top priority for Congress in 2011, only 40% said “reducing the budget deficit,” while 55% said “cutting taxes” or “spending money to create jobs”–two approaches that almost [...]
Here’s the White House’s fact-sheet on the debt-ceiling deal. The legislation itself can be found here. What you need to know: The framework prescribes no new taxes and deep spending cuts, many of which could come from defense and security spending, over the next 10 years. It also would avoid another debt-ceiling fight next year and [...]
